Much effort has gone into design of the club head since this is the part of the club that strikes the ball and controls the transfer of energy as well as the aiming of the ball. Each of the fourteen clubs in the bag are differently configured for different purposes (e.g., driver, fairway wood, wedges, hybrid, irons, and putter). In recent past, the sport has seen an increase in specialized, redesigned club heads with internal, external, interchangeable, heel and/or toe weighted, perimeter weighted, and even sliding weights engineered to enhance aim, distance, feel, forgiveness, flight, launch, among others.
However, apart from efforts to make the club shaft lighter and stronger, not as much effort has gone into shaft design. There has long been a recognition that club function can be altered according to the distribution of weight along the shaft. A number of prior art devices have included ring shaped weights surrounding and attached to the golf club shaft in an effort to alter the weight distribution of the club. However, such attached weights are not completely in line with the shaft and the protruding weights may have undesired aerodynamic effects. In addition, while there has been an understanding that altering the weight distribution alters the way the club behaves, there has generally not been a method for effectively employing such alterations in weight distribution.
Even prior art systems that do discuss weighting a shaft, do so by placing rectangular 1 oz. weights along multiple slots throughout the shaft, or use other external attachments such as rings in an effort to alter weight distribution. However, these systems alter the aerodynamic properties of the golf clubs and may harm the equal bending and twisting properties of the shaft in a negative way.